Daily briefing – Nov. 28

* In East Cleveland on Monday, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) – ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs – will outline legislation to improve programs for homeless veterans and their families. Brown will be joined by a Cleveland-area veteran who stayed at the Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries (LMM) Men’s Shelter after a period of homelessness. He now lives independently and is fully employed. Brown will also be joined by Drew Genszler, a Navy Chaplain who is the president and CEO at LLM.

Brown will discuss how the Veteran Housing Stability Act of 2015 would increase veterans’ access to permanent housing options. While homelessness among veterans has declined 36 percent since 2010, too many veterans remain on the streets. According to newly-released numbers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), 47,725 veterans were homeless during a “point-in-time” survey conducted on a single night in January 2015. In Ohio, during that single-night study, 1,183 veterans were homeless.

* Alliteration Ink has announced the launch of recompose, a magazine dedicated to literary fiction and poetry with elements of science fiction, fantasy, and horror for publication in 2016. This new journal from the Dayton publisher is edited by Leslie J. Anderson of Columbus, and Anton Cancre of Cincinnati.

The project is currently offering issue #0 in major digital formats for free to the public. “This issue is so that everyone can see what kind of journal we’re building,” said Alliteration Ink’s owner, Steven Saus. “The crowdfunding campaign is so that we can make more of it.”

This Kickstarter campaign, which already met its first funding goals, is set up to bring these works to as many people as possible. Saus said it was important for amounts as low as $3 to get you a full year’s worth of stories, poems, non-fiction, and artwork. “Letting people get involved for only a few dollars means it’s easy for people to get involved. We want more people to feel our appreciation of poetry and short fiction – and with the popularity of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, projects like recompose can serve as a way to get people interested in and reading other types of literature.” The Kickstarter campaign met its initial target in less than a week.

recompose will be primarily digital, though there are plans for a print annual compilation issue.

Readers can learn more about recompose, get the free issue, and support the magazine by visiting http://recompose.press or the Kickstarter page at http://j.mp/fund_recompose

* National small business advocacy group Small Business Majority has selected Michelle Tomallo, the owner of FIT Technologies in Cleveland, to receive its inaugural regional Small Business Advocate Award for speaking up on issues that matter to small businesses, including nondiscrimination policies.

Tomallo’s business is a full-service IT firm. She received the award for her work advocating for small business issues through actions like speaking at local business events and traveling to Washington, D.C. to meet with small business leaders and policymakers as part of Small Business Majority’s annual Small Business Leadership Summit.